SECTION II.-SOURCE OF CHIEF ANXIETY.

MAT. VI. 25-34.

In the previous section we found the Redeemer laying down the great principle, that God must be the only treasure of the Christian's soul, and that all the earthly objects on which our affections are liable to be set, are not to be compared, either in intrinsic value or in durability, with Him who is the Covenant God, the unchangeable, the everlasting portion of His people. And if God be infinitely worthy to occupy the supreme place in our hearts, Jesus warns us, that in taking God as our treasure, there must be a firm resolution, a decided choice. We cannot serve God and Mammon. But the objection has been often raised against the doctrine of Christ upon this subject-If I neglect my worldly interests, lest, in pursuing them, I should endanger my soul, am I not in danger of plunging both myself and my family into poverty and wretchedness? The Redeemer knew well that such an objection was liable to occur to the mind, and, therefore, with the utmost kindness and condescension, he hastens to meet it.

V. 25. "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink,

Is not

nor yet for your body what ye shall put on. the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ?" There is peculiar force, we conceive, in the introductory expression, "I say unto you," as if Jesus wished at the outset of this remarkable passage to assure His disciples, that the pointed exhortations and reasonings which follow were to be received as coming from the mouth of one who was possessed of full authority to speak in reference both to the bodies and to the souls of men. He was about to speak as the proprietor and Lord of all, who had the whole resources of the universe at His command, and any assurance, therefore, which He might give as to the temporal support of His people might be listened to with the utmost confidence.

What, then, is the exhortation that issues from the lips of Him who is "the heir of all things?" It is couched in these emphatic words, "Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat or what ye shall drink, nor yet for your body what ye shall put on." The words here translated, "Take no thought," might far more truly have been rendered, "Be not over anxious, or, "do not perplex yourselves." Our Lord must not be understood as implying that we are to take no thought at all about worldly matters, that we are to be indifferent and unconcerned about the temporal support of ourselves and our families. Such a doctrine is nowhere inculcated in the Word of God.

On the contrary, we are expressly commanded to be at once "diligent in business and fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." "This we command you," says the apostle Paul, "that if any would not work neither should he eat; for we know that there are some among you who walk disorderly, working not at all, but are busy-bodies." So strongly, indeed, is the duty of careful attention to our worldly calling inculcated in the Bible, that “the man who provides not for his own, and especially for those of his own house," is plainly declared to have "denied the faith and is worse than an infidel.” The reason of such a strong statement is plain. For while an infidel denies the outward revelation in the Word, the man who makes no exertions to provide for his own bodily wants and those of his family, is chargeable with an express denial of the outward revelation of God's will in the Bible, and also the inward revelation of God's will in the heart. He is guilty, therefore, of a double infidelity; he is worse than an infidel.

But while it is a duty incumbent on us, both on scriptural and natural grounds, to be conscientiously active and industrious in the prosecution of our worldly business, there is undoubtedly a danger lest the affairs of this life should occupy the chief place in our hearts. Our Lord, therefore, knowing well how prone we are to cleave to the dust, cautions us against all over-anxiety about even the necessary subsistence for

the body. "Take no thought," says He, that is, let your mind not be agitated or disturbed with undue solicitude about the supply of your bodily wants. And this important exhortation He enforces on a variety of different considerations which we shall endeavour to notice as they successively occur in the passage now before us.

The first argument against immoderate anxiety about our bodily subsistence is found in the close of the 25th verse. "Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment ?" Several commentators understand these words as denoting, that if God has given us life, we may well believe that He will not refuse to give us the food that is necessary to sustain that life, and if He has given us a body, He will not deny the lesser gift of clothing to cover that body. On a careful consideration of the passage, however, in connection with the scope of our Lord's remarks in the preceding context, we are brought to the conclusion that such an interpretation of the words scarcely includes their full meaning. Our Lord has been speaking of the infinite superiority of heavenly to earthly blessings, and calling upon His disciples to set their affections supremely upon the things that are above. And when He warns them against too great anxiety about worldly things, He asks, "Is not the life more than meat and the body than raiment?" That is, what would it profit a man if he were to obtain meat at the expense

of that very life which it was intended to support, or clothing at the expense of that body which it was intended to cover? Even so would it be foolish in the extreme, for a man to expend the energies of his soul in seeking the mere support of his body at the expense of his best, his highest, his eternal interests. Is it not a plain and unquestionable truth, that the life is more than the meat that sustains it, and the body is more than the raiment that clothes it; and is it not a truth equally plain, and equally unquestionable, that the soul is to be preferred to the mere temporary tabernacle which it now inhabits. And the man who would destroy his soul by an exclusive or even an immoderate attention to the concerns of his body, would be chargeable with a folly equal to that of the man who would destroy his natural life in seeking after the meat that ought to have gone to support it, or the man who would destroy his body in seeking after the clothing that ought to have gone to cover it. The lesson, then, which, according to this view of the passage, our Lord inculcates is, that the lesser interests are plainly to be subordinated, and even, if necessary, to be sacrificed to the higher, the meat to the life, the raiment to the body, and, infinitely more, the body to the soul.

The second argument against over-anxiety about our worldly support is drawn from the care which God exercises over the inferior creatures of His hand.